The Seven Realm Stone swiftly broke through the realm without the slightest difficulty, landing on the Qintian Ancient Road.
“This should be the Qintian Ancient Road; we’ve just gotten used to calling it the Ancient Road,” Lan Xiaobu said with a self-mocking chuckle, looking at the earthy yellow path and the signboard for Qintian Ancient Road beside it.
“This was originally the Chaos Road. Qintian Ancient Road is just the name Qin Qingtian gave it after he claimed it… Well, this Chaos Road was merely acquired by Qin Qingtian; it wasn’t his to begin with. There’s no need for us to keep calling it Qintian Ancient Road. We can just call it Chaos Road or Chaos Path,” Mo Wuji said nonchalantly.
“Those words, I wonder if they’re related to Qin Qingtian? So crooked and ugly,” Ou Ping remarked. Though he had heard of Qintian Ancient Road for a long time, this was his first time standing here.
Lan Xiaobu laughed, “Right, whether they’re related or not, there’s no need to call this ancient road Qintian anymore. Let’s restore the name of this treasure and call it Chaos Path. Chaos Path sounds a bit better than Chaos Road.”
As he spoke, Lan Xiaobu raised his hand, and the signboard with the four crooked words ‘Qintian Ancient Road’ was yanked up by him.
Almost the moment Lan Xiaobu pulled up the sign, the surrounding space began to warp violently. Neither Lan Xiaobu nor Mo Wuji could resist the distortion. A powerful void force swept them up and whisked them away.
*Thud!* When Lan Xiaobu landed, he saw Mo Wuji and Ou Ping also being flung down.
This was a massive hall, with an altar at its centre. On the altar was only a white jade disc, and above it, nothing.
“Where is this?” Ou Ping leapt up, his divine sense scanning the surroundings, but it was always blocked by the hall.
Lan Xiaobu and Mo Wuji also looked around in confusion, eventually realising that in this vast, empty hall, apart from themselves, there were only two things: the altar and the white jade disc.
Lan Xiaobu walked to the altar and picked up the white jade disc. A sensation of immense weight, as if billions of tonnes, settled in his hand. He scanned it with his divine sense and sighed, “I think I understand what’s going on.”
He casually took out the small sign with the words ‘Qintian Ancient Road’ and said, “We didn’t realise this sign was actually a teleportation array token to enter this hall. To get in here, you need this sign.”
“What’s the point of coming here? There doesn’t seem to be a way out,” Ou Ping asked, puzzled.
Lan Xiaobu chuckled and raised the white jade disc, “I reckon long ago, this white jade disc held a tiny ancient road, likely the treasure heart of the Chaos Path. Besides that, there were probably a group of Creation, Derivation, and Path-Building cultivators here, and of course, Qin Qingtian was hiding in a corner of this hall. In short, this hall we’re in is actually just a corner of the Chaos Path. Everyone wants to claim the Chaos Path…”
Mo Wuji nodded. He had refined the Great Derivation Cauldron because he first obtained its cauldron heart. He had naturally heard Ou Ping’s account of how Qin Qingtian acquired the Chaos Path, and he believed Lan Xiaobu’s guess was likely spot on.
Ou Ping wasn’t a fool and quickly caught on, murmuring, “So Qin Qingtian obtained the Chaos Path in this hall. This isn’t a seal, though…”
Lan Xiaobu pointed around the hall, “Old Ou, how is this hall any less than a seal? If you were here alone, could you get out?”
Ou Ping shook his head. He knew that even if he were stronger than everyone trapped here back then, he probably couldn’t escape this hall.
Mo Wuji said, puzzled, “What’s strange to me is how Qin Qingtian, with the broken remnant of his primal spirit, managed to escape with that power. How did that mysterious figure escape and end up in the hands of someone else? And another odd thing: how did Qin Qingtian later lose the Chaos Path? Since he knew he refined the Chaos Path in this hall, why didn’t he come back here? He should’ve known that pulling up the Qintian Ancient Road sign would teleport him here.”
The three fell silent, unable to answer the questions Mo Wuji raised.
After a while, Ou Ping said, “I suspect Qin Qingtian lost the treasure heart he used to refine the Chaos Path, so he didn’t dare come here, knowing he couldn’t get out if he did. If we didn’t have the Seven Realm Stone, it seems we wouldn’t be able to leave either.”
Lan Xiaobu said gravely, “Even with the Seven Realm Stone, we might not get out. Isn’t the Chaos Path a post-Chaos supreme treasure? That would make it higher in rank than the Seven Realm Stone.”
“Whether it’s higher or not, we’ll find out soon enough,” Mo Wuji said with a smile, unconcerned. He believed that if even a broken primal spirit could leave this place, they’d find a way to escape, even if the Seven Realm Stone couldn’t break through.
After searching the hall thoroughly and finding nothing, Lan Xiaobu put away the Qintian Ancient Road sign and the white jade disc, then brought out the Seven Realm Stone. “In that case, let’s go.”
The Seven Realm Stone activated, stirring ripples in the void, but Lan Xiaobu’s heart sank. The stone spun in place and failed to break out of the hall.
“Does this mean the Chaos Path’s rank is higher than the Seven Realm Stone, and my stone can’t break through?” Lan Xiaobu’s expression darkened.
Mo Wuji shook his head, “Not necessarily. Even if the Chaos Path’s rank is higher, this hall is merely a corner of it. It shouldn’t surpass the Seven Realm Stone.”
At that moment, a faint, weak presence suddenly appeared in the hall.
Mo Wuji and Lan Xiaobu were both Creation Sage Realm cultivators, and Ou Ping was nearly at the Fourth Step. No matter how faint the presence, all three detected it instantly.
“He’s almost dead. This place is sealed with Dao laws, and the vital energy is scarce. Surviving this long is already impressive,” Mo Wuji said calmly.
Lan Xiaobu tossed out a Dao fruit, which transformed into a crisp aura of life Dao laws, enveloping the fading remnant soul. In a short time, a weak figure appeared on the ground. The figure bowed to Lan Xiaobu and the others, “Qifeng thanks you all for saving my life. Please wait while I recover a bit.”
With that, the figure sat cross-legged, beginning to absorb the world’s vital energy.
But the vital energy here was so scarce it was almost nonexistent, and he could barely absorb anything. Lan Xiaobu tossed out a pile of Dao crystals and a few more Dao fruits to restore the body.
In a short time, the weak figure solidified into a tall man.
Half a day later, the man donned a white cultivator’s robe and stood up.
With Mo Wuji and Lan Xiaobu’s keen eyes, they could tell at a glance that this man had once been a high-level cultivator, likely a Creation Sage, but after his body and primal spirit were shattered, he had clung to life with a mere wisp of soul until now.
Though his cultivation was far from restored, Qifeng bowed again, trembling with excitement, “Without your help, I, Qifeng, would soon have vanished from this world. I’ve lingered here for countless years, and your arrival has given me a will to survive.”
“You have this will to survive because you know you can lead us out, so you were eager for us to save you, right?” Mo Wuji said.
In the world of cultivators, help is usually an exchange. You ask for help only when you can offer something in return.
Qifeng hurriedly said, “Yes, actually, with the Seven Realm Stone, leaving here is simple. Even if I didn’t say it, you’d soon figure it out. You just need to refine that white jade disc, the Dao Heart Disc.
“Though this Dao Heart Disc is a treasure that holds the Chaos Path’s heart, it can control entry and exit from this hall. Qin Qingtian may have obtained the Chaos Path, but he might not have known this. Refining the Chaos Path’s heart to control the Chaos Path doesn’t necessarily mean controlling the Chaos Path Hall. I also find it odd that Qin Qingtian, having mastered the Chaos Path, never returned to cultivate in the Chaos Path Hall.”
“Is this place the Chaos Path Hall?” Lan Xiaobu realised.
Qifeng nodded, “Yes, this is the Chaos Path Hall.”
“If the Chaos Path can’t be taken without its heart, can I take the Chaos Path Hall? Didn’t you say refining the white jade disc would let us leave this hall?”
Qifeng shook his head, “No, only by refining the Chaos Path’s heart can you take the Chaos Path Hall. Qin Qingtian would eventually realise this, but for some reason, he never came back.”
“Then why did the ‘Qintian Ancient Road’ sign teleport us here?” Lan Xiaobu asked, holding up the sign. But he froze in shock. The four crooked words ‘Qintian Ancient Road’ were gone, replaced by three words: ‘Chaos Road’.
“How did it change?” Lan Xiaobu stared at the sign in astonishment, “And even if it changed, shouldn’t it be Chaos Path?”
